04-Jun-2020 | Lucky Brown & The S.G.'s
Lucky Brown & The S.G.'s
Brown’s composition PECAN TREES SPEAK TO EACH OTHER was inspired by the summer sounds of the rustling pecan groves of San Marcos, Texas, where he composed his Mesquite Suite [TRLP-9074]. Inspiration for the title was found in the writings of Robin Wall Kimmerer in her book, Braiding Sweetgrass, and in southwest poet Wendy Burk’s book, Tree Talks. Those who care to look and listen deeply, know that the trees are sentient beings and are in a constant and spirited conversation with their kind and the other beings of the forest. Messages delivered in tantalizing silence, like love notes passed in a classroom, are received with heady anticipation through the power of pollen. And underground, in the dark, a living network of messages are conveyed molecularly from one tree to another other through a vast system of mycelia and bacteria. “I’m hurt,” “I am hungry,” “I am dying,” I am alive!,” “I need help,” “I am afraid,” “Thank you...” These messages tell the other members when to be fruitful, when to conserve their energy, and when to defend themselves from attack. Of course, there are likely many other ways the trees talk that we cannot or will not ever hear.
In a similar way, many of us reach upward and outward for a brighter, more prosperous, more peaceful future like branches reaching to the sun. In a similar way, many of us simultaneously root down into the earth through ritual and dance, and grow and build our local and global community bodies one beat at a time. Many of us who are concerned about the loss of more and more corners of our sustaining yet delicate ecological web want to protect our water, our air, and our earth from extractive and exploitative forces. This is our home, and we are all each others’ relatives.
Furthermore, we yearn to use our gifts and our power and our life force to further the cause of the small, the tiny, the quiet, the low, and all the beings on and under the earth. We deliver these messages daily and passionately in so many ways, more and more so along the mysterious networks of the world wide web. And at times, when we have more to say, when words do not suffice, we deliver these messages with our music. Our sonic, musical, vibrational, tone messages are being sent to you right now! Our cries, our tears of sorrow and joy, our love of this planet and our love for it’s inhabitants, at once committed to the message of PECAN TREES…”
Seattle USA’s S.G.’s, along with The Longhorns of Mesquite Suite renown, proudly feature with this release, Seattle saxophonist and composer Kate Olson on soprano sax and solo. The shorter, edited version on Side B is showcases just Kate's solo, while Side A features Marc Hager (keys) and Colin Higgins (guitar) in addition. Recorded by Lucky to 4-track cassette at Bob Heinemann’s Bomb Shelter studio just like the Mesquite Beat/Justice [TR-1040] single, and then transferred, overdubbed and mixed by Lucky and Jason Gray at Blue Mallard Studio, this deluxe 10-inch ’found acetate’ project, the final chapter of the Tramp Tapes imprint series, represents another beloved Brown & Gray production. As a very special bonus, this release includes the brutal rehearsal version for “’Bout To Blow,” recorded on Ollie Klomp’s world-famous Magik Carpet (the entire Mystery Road [TR-9044] album was recorded there), and on the flip, you’ll find a living, breathing rough-funk jam in its entirety, “Scavenge Patch Blues,” recorded at the Scavenge Patch as a band warm-up for the Mesquite Suite session.
With this, our humble offering, we send our aspiration to exist in harmony with all the inhabitants of this planet, we are singing, we are playing, we are harmonizing, we are becoming attuned to each other and to the healing vibrations of the universe. PECAN TREES SPEAK TO EACH OTHER...are you listening?